The German driver and reigning GP2 champion has had a bit of a quiet year so far. He capitalised on a hectic race at Montreal to finish an excellent fourth. Other than that he’d usually been behind team mate Jarno Trulli.

But Glock’s pace over the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend was excellent. He out-qualified Trulli, taking fifth on the grid, and moving into fourth at the expense of Robert Kubica who was on the dirty side of the track.

His pace in the race was excellent. He dropped Kubica quickly before Fernando Alonso took up the chase. When Kimi Raikkonen passed Alonso the Ferrari driver quickly caught Glock, but was unable to pass him, and backed off in the closing stages.

what a performnce from glock, he had more fuel than hamilton & massa, he saw of kubica too. genuine pace from the toyota, not lookin very good for bmw though kubica was very quiet today, he cant b very happy with the car right now. also another good drive from piqut this weekend maybe he will come good now in the 2dnt half of the season.

I think Throttle is just asking for some consistency Keith, If Heikki lucked to a racewin then of course Glock lucked into the podium finish. The only difference is that while Heikki drove ok, performing at the level of his car, Glock performed above expectations. Even if he would have finished 4 without the luck he’d still have done one helluva race. While his fourth in Canada was tainted by how he braked his teammate out of fifth (unintentional but still stupid) his drive today was flawless.

Glock maintained his position all race, and was on the pace from the very beginning. Even taking a risky 3 stop strategy. He only got gifted 2 positions but he was a genuine contender for a podium position all race. Piquet on the other hand got gifted about 12 positions.

The thing that amazed me was how he managed to qualify in 5th, on a fairly heavy fuel load in comparison to the front runners, and out-qualify Trulli, a qualifying expert, in the same car.
I’d keep an eye on Glock next year, as Toyota have made more progress this year than any other team, and more than they have ever made before. The new rules for 2009 could play into their hands considering their huge budget. While everyone is expecting BMW and Honda to do well in ’09, the biggest car manufacturer could spring a surprise.

I’m a big Timo Glock fan. He is a very quick driver who has needed time to settle in and an improved race car. I was getting nervous that Toyota may drop him, but he really showed his potential this weekend and has had good pace all year. Maybe his goal of winning a world championship by 2010 isn’t so crazy, after all.

I think Toyota may finally be on the way to the top. Both drivers have had good pace, with Trulli having more consistency and Glock having what could be a springboard race. I think it’s pretty clear that they are #4 on the grid right now behind Ferrari, McLaren, and BMW.

I agree with Paige that Toyota are an up-and-coming team, with both drivers having put in some very good perofrmances this season. Indeed, they are emerging as the best of the rest, ahead of Renault, Red Bull, and Williams. For me, Glock’s result was particurally impressive coming in the first GP after his accident- clearly no after-effects for this guy.

This is perhaps a comment for another purpose-dedicated post, but my big question with Toyota is how will their unique, buracratically-heavy management style hold up when they get a taste of success and a chance to challenge the front-runners? But for now, some good results to build on for the Panasonic boys.

How much of this success could be down also to the threats from Toyota headquarters at the beginning of the season, that Toyota F1 had better start delivering or else?
We all know that Toyota have spent $3 billion since 2002 on their F1 team with almost nothing to show for it. I suppose putting a charge up a few ***** wasn’t a bad idea after all.
Another great idea was off loading Ralf Schumacher last year, whose yearly salary was well over what he was actually worth.
Timo Glock would appear to be relishing his second chance at Formula One, following his stint back in 2004, and good luck to him.
I really hope that Toyota and Glock can progress further, and be a consistent force at the top of the championship.